First Pony at two. A Silver dapple Shetland mare.
Second pony at 5, a nice Welsh. Took my first lessons then, and when I was 9,
started in 4-H. Lived in Oregon as a kid, and 4-H was the best thing to have
happen to me to get a good base education on riding and caring for my pony. I do
remember a group trail ride we did once at Flying M ranch, where they have since
had endurance rides. (mind you, I was there around 1970 or so!) Did showing a
little bit of everything. Western, English, Jumping, even had a cart. Had a few
more horses as I got better, and finally we moved to So. CA. after my
parents divorced. My mom made sure to buy a house we could have the
horses. I took very few formal lessons, and mostly just rode, and learned. The
local horse club put on a NATRC competitive ride in Griffith Park in about 1976
or so. I entered it, and then again the next year. As a teen, what could be more
fun? Kept showing, and finally in the 80's, as an adult, bought a horse who came
with an entry to a NATRC ride. Did that ride, and got the bug. Before I knew it,
I was managing a NATRC ride, even though I had only done a few! As I got more
involved, I decided I needed an Arabian. Hubby got one, and so did I. That was
about 1986. We have not been without an Arab or two since. We currently have 5
of them! Competed more in NATRC, and then started doing some endurance rides. I
had a horse that was too good, and he top tenned at a few of the tough So. CA
rides. Malibu, Sunland, and another I think. I got the bug I wanted a top 5, and
pushed my horse, who was too game, and ended up bowing both front legs. Very
hard lesson learned. The horse gave his all, and had more heart, than his rider
had knowledge. Was away from the sport for a long time after that. Horse
healed, and went on to do Combined Driving Events. He was competitive there too,
but I had more brains, and when he started to not enjoy the events, we stopped.
So often we only look at physical signs, but forget to read the mental ones of
what the horse tells us. Anyway, started working for an endurance rider who
started in the sport in the 70's, and did some rides, prepped her horses for
Tevis, and was photographing many of the CA rides. In 2001, I crewed the
cross country 2000 mile XP2001 ride. After that, I started looking for my next
distance horse. Got back into the sport, and in 2004, I got to go to the Nevada
to Nebraska XP2004 and ride instead of crew. I remember reading about Tevis in
Western Horseman as a kid. I tried it back in the 80's, and had a pull, tried
again in 2004, and a pull, and finally got my Tevis buckle last
summer. I still enjoy NATRC and endurance. I hope to get to more multi day
rides this year. Prefer them over one day rides.
